Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support Demonstrates Exceptional Momentum

Submitted by Ty on November 15, 2007 - 1:00pm

Oracle announced an exceptional first year for the Oracle® Unbreakable Linux support program, with 1,500 customers adopting the program after the three-month free trial period. Additionally, the program has experienced significant partner participation through certifications and the Oracle Validated Configurations Program. As a result of the program's strong growth, a testament to the demand for enterprise-quality Linux support, Oracle has created a dedicated Linux sales team. The Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program has also helped Oracle drive growth and advancements in Linux as bug fixes are provided back to the Linux community, in addition to the company's on-going new features and functionality contributions.

"The phenomenal adoption of the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program has exceeded expectations and clearly demonstrates that Linux users seek better quality support -- the same support Oracle offers its database customers," said Oracle's Oracle Chief Corporate Architect, Edward Screven. "Oracle continues to be fully committed to Linux with a sharp focus on meeting customer demand, growing its already strong partner ecosystem and most importantly, continuing its technical contributions to advance Linux as an operating system for mission-critical applications. The growth of the program is validation that Oracle is meeting a real customer need."

Oracle Unbreakable Linux Support Program Customers

Providing a single source for enterprise-quality support for Linux, and the entire Oracle software stack, the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program has been the choice of 1,500 customers and continues to grow rapidly as customers experience the benefits of the program.

"Delivering business value through the utilization of innovative and cost-effective technology is a cornerstone of Abercrombie & Fitch's leadership in the retail industry," said Kristen Blum, CIO and VP IT, Abercrombie & Fitch. "We selected Oracle as our strategic partner because they were the only company that could support our entire retail footprint through their integrated suite of Oracle Retail applications and with the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program, we can make one call and receive support for our entire solution."

"The Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program was extremely compelling to Acuity Brands as we are a full-stack Oracle customer, running Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware and the Oracle E-Business Suite," said Pat Quinn, vice president, Information Systems & Technology, Acuity Brands. "With the addition of Linux support, all our software infrastructure bases are covered in one stop, with the same high-quality support we've always had from Oracle."

"At Beaumont Medical Hospitals, our predominantly Linux-based IT infrastructure supports more than 2,400 physicians representing well over 91 medical and surgical specialties," Paul Dillard, manager IT, Beaumont Hospitals. "The Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program has provided us with the confidence to expand our Linux deployments to mission critical applications while lowering our overall IT costs."

"As a market leader in providing on-demand data management and performance analytics for critical pharmaceutical supply chain information, ValueCentric requires a flexible and highly reliable IT infrastructure," said John LoFaso, Director, Technical Operations, ValueCentric. "With the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program we know our Linux investment is protected and that enables us to dedicate our resources to adding value for our customers."

Oracle PartnerNetwork's Linux Initiative Delivers Extended Value

Rounding out the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program is the strong backing from Oracle PartnerNetwork members who have certified their solutions with Oracle Enterprise Linux; providing customers with the assurance that their environments have been fully tested and work out-of-the-box. In addition to technology providers supporting their products on Linux, the Oracle Validated Configurations program includes more than a dozen infrastructure companies working with Oracle to provide pre-tested, validated and supported architectures -- software, hardware, storage and networking components -- and best practices, to further ease the deployment of Oracle solutions on Linux.

Additional partners such as 170 Systems, AppWorx Corp., LSI, Patchlink, Pervasive Rackable Systems, Symantec and Synoran, all members of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), certified with and include Oracle Enterprise Linux among the operating systems they support. Open source companies including KnowledgeTree and SugarCRM are also among those supporting the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program. Partners are finding that they can easily and rapidly support their applications on Oracle Enterprise Linux because it is fully source and binary compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Key channel partners have also signed up as distributors and resellers of the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program, including, CDW, Dell, Ingram Micro, Insight, and Tech Data.

Oracle Software Stack Experiences Strong Growth on Linux

In 1998, Oracle released the industry's first commercial database for the Linux operating system. Since then, all Oracle software is available on Linux and most are also developed using Linux as a base platform. In addition to the long history of Oracle Database running on Linux, strong growth has been experienced across the Oracle software stack. Oracle Fusion Middleware and the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i application shipments on the Linux platform have risen to more than 30 percent and 50 percent respectively.

With the strong growth of Oracle software running on Linux, Oracle has established a dedicated sales force focused on the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program. This team includes Oracle software and Linux experts who can help customers stay up-to-date, help ensure their Linux systems are running at peak performance and keep their businesses moving forward.

Enhancing Linux Through Technical Contributions to the Linux Community

Further demonstrating its dedication to helping ensure enterprises' success with Linux, Oracle has made significant code contributions to the Linux community. Over the past year, Oracle has led the following Linux enhancements: development of a new file system, btrfs, designed for superior scaling; continuing advancements to clustering via Oracle Cluster File System (OCSF2); leading an open source interface project to expose the T10 Data Integrity Field (DIF) standard to help reduce system downtime; open sourcing tools to streamline testing; collaborating on an interface for comprehensive data integrity and developing a new asynchronous I/O interface to reduce complexity; virtualization; and much more.